


In Which Stefan Saves The Day

by Stelra_Etnae



Series: For the Want of a Nail, A Kingdom Was Lost [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Crack Treated Seriously, Fix-It, Gen, I probably enjoyed writing this a bit too much, Marineford Never Happened, Stefan is a Good Boy, This entire story is from the POV of a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24742408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stelra_Etnae/pseuds/Stelra_Etnae
Summary: It only takes the involvement of a single character (or doggo) to turn the tides of history forever. In which Stefan defeats the Bad Man, saves his favourite Food Man, and gets all the best Good Boy snacks. Everything is right in the world.(A not-so-cracky crack pre-Marineford fix-it fic)
Relationships: Stefan (One Piece) & Whitebeard Pirates
Series: For the Want of a Nail, A Kingdom Was Lost [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1747777
Comments: 26
Kudos: 398





	In Which Stefan Saves The Day

**Author's Note:**

> Just to make sure you know, Stefan is a 100% canon character. XD  
> https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Stefan

Stefan loves his humans.

There is Master, of course. Stefan loves Master with all his big doggy heart. And Stefan is a big dog, with a heart that is big indeed.

Master was the one to find Stefan, many years ago now when Stefan had been just a pup – scrawny, hungry and shivering in the cold rain. Where many others had just ignored him, passing him on the streets with barely a glance and harsh clicking heels, Master had picked him up with one large, warm hand and brought him home. Home, from then on for Stefan, became a giant whale-shaped ship with Master and lots and lots of other humans.

The human who stays around Master the most is Bird Man. Bird Man confuses Stefan a bit, or a lot at first, because sometimes he is a human and sometimes he is a really pretty blue bird. When Stefan was a pup he had liked to chase the blue bird’s nice long tail feathers, but then Master said no. Stefan had been a little sad about that. But Stefan is all grown-up now and no longer has the urge to chase waving golden feathers. No. He doesn’t. He really doesn’t. Really.

Bird Man as a human is nice. He gives Stefan nice scratches on the best spots whenever he comes to talk to Master about something or another as he always does, and feeds Stefan treats because Stefan is a Good Boy. And he gave Stefan one of his bird tail feathers once, which isn’t as interesting as how they wave in the air when the blue bird flies, but is still very pretty. Stefan keeps it carefully tucked into the side of his bed.

Fire Man is a new addition to the family on the whale-shaped ship. When he first came onboard, he kept interrupting Stefan’s sleep because he would crash into Master’s room at any time of the day and make lots of noise crashing back out again. But he doesn’t do that anymore, and now Stefan likes him lots and lots. Fire Man doesn’t turn into a bird like Bird Man does, but his body is also sometimes made of fire. Fire Man’s body is very warm even when he isn’t fire and he likes to snuggle up with Stefan when he has his naps, which is very nice on cold days. Fire Man takes a lot of naps. He also feeds Stefan snacks because Stefan is a Good Boy. Stefan is a Very Good Boy.

And then there is Food Man. Food Man is Stefan’s second favorite after Master. He always makes yummy food, and remembers what Stefan’s favorites are. Food Man’s Good Boy treats are The Best.

Whenever the whale-shaped ship stops at the place with a beach, Food Man is the one who plays with Stefan in the water because Master and Bird Man can’t swim (boo). His hands are always gentle when he washes Stefan’s fur but strong enough to rub away that itch underneath just right. After bath time, Flower Man makes Stefan a nice mustache again so that Stefan can look like Master. Stefan loves his humans, and loves looking like Master.

But then there is Missing-Tooth Man. Now Missing-Tooth Man, Stefan _doesn’t_ like. Missing-Tooth Man smells funny. The type of smell that makes Stefan think of the back alley crooks back where he had first grown up, humans who would hurt a homeless pup just for fun. It is a smell he had learnt not to trust. Missing-Tooth Man also smells like cherry pie, which Food Man makes for him. Stefan decided that he doesn’t like cherry pie either.

It is late at night on the whale-shaped ship, a time when Stefan’s humans should all be asleep, except for the humans who take turns sitting in that high place looking out at the sea. Master is snoring, a low rumbling sound that normally lulls Stefan straight to sleep until the next morning. But not tonight. Stefan’s nose twitches. Something had woken him, and is stopping him from falling back to sleep. Rising quietly from his low bed without waking Master, he pads to the door, nudging it open with his nose to slip out into the hallway.

There are two men outside on the back deck, two scents that he knows. It is Food Man and Missing-Tooth Man. Why are they awake? Maybe Food Man can’t sleep? Fire Man always likes to snuggle with Stefan when he takes his afternoon naps, maybe Food Man would sleep better with Stefan to snuggle with too. With that in mind, Stefan pads out to the outer deck, feet quiet against the wooden planks.

But even before the humans come to his sight, his instincts tell him something is wrong. And he spots what it is when he turns the corner, the hairs on his back standing straight up in an instant. Missing-Tooth Man is holding a knife, creeping ever-closer to Food Man’s unprotected back.

There is no time nor need to think. Adrenaline rushing and fueling his movements, Stefan pounces with an enraged howl that echoes across the deck and over the waves.

Missing-Tooth Man curses violently when Stefan’s teeth sink mercilessly into his fleshy forearm (blegh), trying to shake him off. Stefan drives his teeth further down, drawing blood. “ARGH! Get off me, you mangy mutt!”

In the midst of this, Food Man spins around in shock at the noise. “Huh? Teach? Stefan!? Wait, wha-”

A swung fist by Missing-Tooth Man dislodges Stefan from his prey, but that isn’t going to distract Stefan from his main purpose. Recovering quickly, Stefan places himself squarely in front of Food Man, a menacing growl rising from deep in his belly as he faces Missing-Tooth Man straight on. Missing-Tooth Man tried to attack one of Stefan’s humans, and so has become the _Enemy_.

His growling wakes up the rest of the whale-shaped ship, figures popping out from the entrance to the cabins.

“What’s wrong, Stefan?” “Something happened, boy?” “Commander? What’s going on?” “Hey, Teach?”

With an audience gathering, Missing-Tooth Man makes a move to hide the knife in his hand, but Stefan is faster, bowling him over and pinning him to the floor with his weight. The knife goes skidding across the deck, spinning to a stop at Bird Man’s feet. Bird Man stoops to pick it up, face twisting as he inspects some sticky substance on the knife. Stefan’s nose wrinkles in memory of the whiff he had caught of it. It had smelled bad, worse than Missing-Tooth Man’s stench.

And Missing-Tooth Man almost shook Stefan off the next instant but Flower Man and Fire Man are there then, taking over to hold the Enemy down to the ground. Fire Man looks like he does when there are Bad People around and he was about to set something on fire; Flower Man’s brows are furrowed deeper than Stefan had ever seen; and even though Bird Man looks calm as he walked over, Stefan can smell his anger.

A familiar footfall arrives at the scene, and a moment later Master’s solemn voice booms over the nervous chatter of the ship’s humans. “Teach. What is the meaning of this?”

Knowing that his humans will deal with the Enemy, Stefan trots back to where Food Man is still standing rooted to the same spot. Food Man’s face is ashen but when Stefan butts his nose against Food Man’s side, he crouches down to run his hands through Stefan’s fur just the way he likes it, though Stefan could still feel his hands shake a little when he scratches behind Stefan’s ears. “Good boy, Stefan. Thanks for protecting me.”

Stefan licks his face in response. That goes without saying.

The humans on this whale-shaped ship are his humans. And Stefan protects his own.

* * *

**Omake**

**(In which Stefan accidentally swallowed the Yami Yami no Mi during the nighttime fiasco)**

The snack Food Man dropped on the floor last night had tasted yucky, nothing like Food Man’s usual snacks. It was most certainly _not_ one of Stefan’s favorites, and he hopes Food Man knows that. And it seems like he does, because today he cooked all of Stefan’s favorite foods (yay!) and didn’t give him any more of that icky fruit.

But there is just one weird thing that kept happening since then. Stefan isn’t complaining though.

_Black Hole!_

“Stefan!” Fire Man yelps as all the food on the table is sucked towards Stefan. “Oh come on, no fair!”

All across the mess hall, the rest of the humans have fallen into hysterics. Master’s loud rumbling laughter rises above the rest.

Chowing down happily on a large piece of steak, Stefan considers Fire Man thoughtfully. Fire Man, who is very obviously sulking because he doesn’t have any food in front of him.

Graciously he nudges one of the plates back to Fire Man.

Fire Man blinks, then chuckles as he reaches for a chicken drumstick. The other hand scratches Stefan comfortably behind the ear before his arm loops Stefan in for a warm cuddle.

“You’re the best, Stefan.”

Stefan licks his face. That is absolutely right.

Because Stefan is a Good Boy. A Very, Very Good Boy.


End file.
